Description

I’m very pleased to offer this matched pair of 1950s Mid-Century ceiling fixtures by Moe!

Two brothers, Henrik and Ole Moe, helped to found the Milwaukee-based Moe-Bridges lighting company in 1919. Later friction among various shareholders resulted in the brothers leaving the company in the late 1920s, and founding Moe Brothers Manufacturing.

In 1938, the company relocated to Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, after the city agreed to sell land – adjacent to an all-important railroad line – to the company for one dollar. Moreover, the city built a modern plant (at 700 Oak Street), with the understanding that the company would pay rent of $1,800 for twenty years. The company was able to hire one hundred employees (no small figure in the Depression), and this increased to one hundred fifty two years later. In 1946, the company was able to pay off the bonds used to finance the Moe plant.

However, as was common, the company struggled to survive after the war years (where they made grenades, bazooka and bullet shells, anti-tank mines, and other military equipment). In 1948, Lee B. Thomas stepped in to save the company. In 1953, the corporation name was changed to Thomas Industries, although the lighting fixtures still carried the Moe Light brand label, and were marketed as such.

By 1963, Thomas was the largest employer in Fort Atkinson with 540 employees and sales of $41,000,000.

The Fort Atkinson plant was closed in 1986. But it wasn’t that long ago that this factory – like countless such factories across America – was teeming with life, and supporting millions of families. This, back when America actually made stuff. And quality stuff at that.